Sunday, March 22, 2015

Life is Beautiful!! Time and again I have said this to myself and to anyone who listens to me. Life is what you want it to be and how you want it to be. Its been three years now since my beloved Grandpa passed away and there has not been one day when I don't miss him or remember him. He was an inspiration not just to me or my family .... but he was an inspiration to a lot of people who had known him.

Whenever I feel down I ask Dad to tell me Grandpa's story, and like a doting son-in-law, he obliges. My Grandpa never went to school it seems. He had attended a eleven day camp type thing held at a gurukul it seems. So he was an illiterate. But somehow he kept on practicing reading and writing throughout his life and could manage to read and write slowly. It is said that his father was forced to leave the house with his small kids by his brother.

So basically he belonged to a very poor family and had six siblings and old parents and a wife to support too at a very young age. With his hard work, grandpa bought a big piece of land and by the time my Mom was born, they even constructed a very nice and big house too. He was a man of very strong opinions and also a very righteous man. People used to come to him when they had disputes. Soon he became a person who had power and influence among the local people. Even ministers would come to him during and after elections so that he could persuade people to vote for them. He even tried a bit of politics himself but he realized that politics was not for people who had opinions of their own.

He was a simple man. Always dressed in a piece of dhoti which was always stained due to all the work he did in and around his house or field. He always had one or the other story to tell, some funny incident to recall and lot of dreams for all of us. Whenever I used to visit him I would see him busy in work. He would take me to the paddy fields, areca nut groove and cashew plantation. I loved his company a lot. He had so many things to share, to teach us.

When he passed away lot of people came from all over the place. People whom the family didn't know came and told us how my grandpa had helped them in time of need. Each and every person had some kind words to tell about him. One stranger came to my Granny and told him how my Grandpa had helped him with a very big amount at the middle of night when grandpa himself was in trouble. That was my Grandpa. And he never disclosed this to any in the family. He would sponsor poor students and always valued education a lot. Even without the formal education he had read the Hindu epics like Ramayana, Mahabharata, Geeta, Manu Smriti and even the Upanishads. He knew about all the Hindu traditions and stuff like that. And despite all this he was the most broad minded person I had ever seen. He never believed in superstitions and challenged the abnormal rules and regulations.

I always wonder what if he had got the opportunity of education like the rest of us. What all he would have achieved if he was given all the opportunities that the rest of his peers got. Sadly we will never know. But he has and always will be my greatest inspiration in life. I learnt a lot from him. My inspiration!!!! The Man!!! My Man!!!

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Many feel that social media like Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp , etc., are a waste of time. But I feel its a boon... a blessing in disguise. I'll tell you why.....

My father was in a transferable job and so we never stayed in one single place for more than three years. And also I belong to the generation where back then, we didn't have regular phones in every house hold. That means that I was not able to keep in touch with a lot of my school friends regularly. Ya we used to write letters to each other for a while..... but you know as we grew up we got busy in our lives and we kind of drifted apart. We lost contact.

When in college, the era of cell phones started and so we kind of remained in contact. But I always missed my High school buddies. Then came the era of Facebook and slowly many friends reconnected. But after such a long time one doesn't know what to speak to and we kind of remained just "friends" on Facebook. And life went on.....

Then suddenly one of our class mate got the idea of forming a group on WhatsApp and started collecting phone numbers. I was a bit apprehensive about it in the beginning. Anyway I gave it and then when he added me to the group, I felt soo out of place in the group as I was one of the very few who had left the place after high school and the rest of them had continued their studies in the same city. And so I couldn't recognize many of my old friends.

I just said hi in the group and kept silent. It was irritating me that I didn't remember half of my friends and was not comfortable there either. But after a couple of days, as the group started growing, I realized many were in the same position as me. Like me, a few of my friends too didn't remember each and everyone. So we all started talking and slowly we all warmed up and unknowingly we chatted the whole day. Some of us finally called each other and spoke too.

We started sharing old stories, incidents and all the hidden memories came flooding back!! It was such a memorable day just talking about school days.....the fun, the punishments, the homeworks, the competitiveness and the crushes ( ;-) ) and what not!! All the memories made us young again and took us seventeen years back. All the nick names, the mischief done in class, the pranks played on teachers!!!! Oh !! So many sweet memories!! And suddenly we were not strangers anymore. I don't feel like a stranger in my group anymore.... in fact they have all become my best buddies...

It was my memorable day in the recent past!!! It felt so good to reconnect with my past. Are you people still in contact with your school buddies? If not just do that!! It feels sooo good and fresh!!!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

I am amazed when I see people who know what they want to do in their life, about their goals and aims in their life. When I finished my 10th standard, all I wanted to study was science. I loved Biology and Physics equally in 11th standard. But when I was in 12th, I realized that Medical was not my cup of tea and I had no interest in Engineering.There were not many options and I didn't have any knowledge as such about these things and not many good guides who would talk about our interests or give us knowledge. So like everybody else who didn't pursue Engineering or Medical, I took Computer Science in College. But somewhere I realized that Computer Science was a lifeless subject and programming was not what I wanted to do. But anyway I continued like everybody else.

After graduating I still didn't know what I wanted to do. So I brought applications for M.S., and M.C.A. But suddenly my life took a big turn and I got married and I became a home maker. Then I became a mother and life went on. But somewhere the desire to do something was constantly was on my mind. I used to draw and scribble a lot when in college and hadn't left that one thing even after I got married. Slowly and steadily, this hobby started becoming my passion and finally after a lot of detours, I finally realized my goal and took up painting seriously. Now after all these years, I am an art graduate too and pursuing masters in the subject which is close to my heart.

After a lot of struggle and lot of practice and more patience and a lot many rejections, finally I feel that I am on MY WAY. This is the path I wanted to be in and I am finally happy. And in April 2015, i.e., next month, I am going to be participating in my first Group show in Calicut/ Kozikode.

Not in my wildest of dreams, had I ever dreamed of becoming an artist.... let alone participating in an exhibition!!! This is a new chapter of my life!! I have traveled a long way from Science to Arts. I am nervous and excited and happy! So wish me luck guys!! Its never too late to start fresh. You have a dream, just go for it.